THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA

I'll lay my bias here and now by saying this is one of my favourite Who stories ever.  A critic should never play favourites I know, but Masque is probably the pinnacle of the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era.

Season 14 began in fine style with a story oozing atmosphere.  From the skulduggery of the royal court to the mysterious happenings in the catacombs, the plot snaps together in perfect unison.  What's remarkable is how little the alien threat plays on the overall story.  At its heart its about obtaining and keeping power by any means possible.  Whether it was from the Mandragora Helix manipulating its disciples to Giuliano's wicked Uncle wanting to usurp the throne, there's always some intrigue happening at any given moment.

Tom Baker and Lis Sladen were the perfect team and traded ideas effectively as any good Doctor/Companion partnership should.  The entire cast give fine performances, keeping their roles with a sense of reality amidst the outlandish happenings.  The script by Louis Marks treats the viewer with intelligence with a literate and thoughtful story perfectly blending the thrills with a modicum of historical fact.  Usually in a story I try to pick out the worst aspects to isolate the good - not so here with everything working seamlessly.  Perhaps the only let down would be the realisation of the Helix itself, however this is only a minor quibble as the budget was surely stretched to the max with this tale.

The location filming at Portmeirion works wonders as this adds immeasurably to the rich production design and attention to detail.  The new TARDIS set looks great too and is more than appropriate given the tonal structure of the series at this point.  The Jules Verne style wooden console in a way would be used in the new series, as the David Tennant era console room had its same rustic look.

Overall this is one of those near faultless stories that deserves its mantle of being a classic.  The extras are pretty good with an interesting making of doco set in Portmeirion.  However an aspect I found irritating was the production team's habit of interviewing each other - which came across as being very forced. The featurette examining the TARDIS is very interesting as is a Now and Then feature on Portmeirion.

By far the worst extra is the 'Beneath the Masque' feature as shot by Garth Roberts and Clayton Hickman which has all the feel of a cheesy and cheap fan-made doco.  Unfunny and totally unnecessary - hopefully 2Entertain discontinues this ploy in padding out the DVD for no reason.

Next: The Space Museum/The Chase.

axelf : THE KEYS OF MARINUS

We're almost fifty years along, so you'd expect the pot to be pretty cold. However, I was surprised at this release. The info text was excellent as always, and I regard it as the most consistent feature of these releases. The Easter egg was interesting and laterally conceived. But best of all was the commentary; William Russell, Carole Anne Ford, John Gorrie and Raymond Cusick moderated by Clayton Hickman.

Gorrie has his say about the direction of episode three of Reign of Terror; A Change of Identity, and the commentators worry they've libeled Henric Hirsch. But Cusick is the real star, with firm memories and opinions about this serial, and more. He pointedly asks if proletarian means left wing, and dismisses Oh! What a Lovely War as a "travesty" because of "historical accuracy".

Best of all is his outro dismissal of Marinus in the featurette; "Is there anything about this production you feel proud about?", "No."

THE SPACE MUSEUM/THE CHASE

If 2Entertain appear keen on finding a ‘theme’ for their box sets it seems the one for The Space Museum/The Chase is one of ‘satire’.  For both stories have a dig at ordered societies in a way such mid 60’s stories could.  The Space Museum begins quite well with an opening chapter almost matching The Mind Robber in atypical story-telling. 

Glyn Jones’ script makes a great play at how the future is never set in stone, with both the good and bad characters battling to change their fates.  One could almost say this is a common thread through The Chase as well, as the Dalek’s attempt to alter the course of their ruthless futures drives them to pursue the Doctor through eternity. 

There seemed to be a concerted effort to deliver more substantial stories by imbedding them with sly humour – which only occasionally works.  Working better in The Space Museum than The Chase, this satirical bent dilutes the Daleks to a more human level.  Daleks should be feared – not liked - and Terry Nation’s misguided attempts to have them talking like real people further drags down an overly long tale.  The addition of Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula highlights this overall silliness and exposes a time paradox even the Doctor would be hard pressed to answer.  Whilst the use of fictional characters worked with The Mind Robber, The Chase uses these 2 horror characters as a device for whose appearances are never explained. 

Perhaps that’s being unduly harsh against a story desperate to entertain, but The Chase’s generally poor script reaches its nadir with the cumbersome Mechonoids who serve little purpose other than becoming another addition to the BBC’s Christmas toy line.

As a DVD box set The Space Museum is the better of the two in terms of story.  Having said that however the acting in both is of a high standard with William Hartnell truly outstanding at the end of The Chase where Ian and Barbara finally depart. 

The Extras for the Space Museum are reasonable with Robert Shearman’s defence of a much maligned story compelling.  By far one of the worst extras is entitled ‘Holiday for the Doctor’ with Christopher Green attempting some fan-boy laughs to zero effect.  The Chase has better extras with various documentaries effectively highlighting the Dalek craze of the mid 60’s.

Overall not a bad package for those who are fans of Hartnell’s waspish Doctor.

Next: Myths and Legends box set.

MYTHS & LEGENDS Box Set – Part 1
THE TIME MONSTER

Jon Pertwee’s third Dr Who season would see a consolidation of the success built upon previously.  Offering a mix of old and new villains, Season 9 was certainly one of ambitious variety.  The Time Monster encapsulates this mantra with The Master’s plan to use an ancient Atlantean crystal to rule the cosmos certainly one full of potential scope.  This it mostly succeeds in its first four chapters with plenty of excellent verbal by-play between himself and the Doctor which moves the tale forward.

Where events come unfurled is the last two parts as the characters enter Atlantis.  It would have been better had Atlantis been heard and not seen as this section drags down an interesting story.  The Time Monster has come for great criticism over the years and I think it’s these last two parts which fans have been judging plus the awful special effects.  The sight of an actor dressed as a white flapping bird descends things to pantomime level – almost equalling Warrior of the Deep’s Myrka monster in awfulness.  Ironic given both stories featured Ingrid Pitt who gives a performance over-lapping the borders of pure camp.

Even in its bad patches, holding everything together are the performances of Pertwee, Manning and Delgado.  All know their characters inside out by now and are commanding in their authority.  The arrogance of knowledge of both Doctor and the Master is well portrayed, with both coming undone with their egocentric manners.  The dialogue they deliver is polished throughout with an intelligence sadly lacking during its later years.  It can be truly said that it was the Pertwee era where the show refused to ‘talk down’ to its audience and matured in the delivery of its stories and engaging concepts.

It’s frustrating The Time Monster’s length ruins the solid tale underneath – a fault common in many stories in this era.  Several Pertwee stories have copped a lot of criticism for their overly long tales, which unfortunately seemed to affect fans opinions of his era overall.    Maybe the script editing wasn’t as tight as it should have been – which is interesting given Terrence Dicks never seems to have properly been taken to task for this.

Another interesting point is the re-designed Tardis console.  Whilst some hate it, I didn’t mind it as it gave a fresh look to the series and seemed to suit the new way of presenting stories during the Pertwee era  - a shame it never appeared again after this.

Overall The Time Monster is an interesting story let down by its length and poor special effects.  The DVD extras are fairly engaging with a great look at the ‘science’ of the story with Barry Letts’ input about its Buddhist philosophies making for fine listening.  It’s a pity the great man is no longer around to contribute to the DVD range – something 2Entertain could have rectified had they released more Pertwee stories earlier. 

Next: Myths & Legends Box Set  - Part 2: Underworld

The Horns of Nimon

It's come to this. One of the last two stories to be released on VHS in 2003 (the other was Invasion of the Dinosaurs IIRC), and was quite rightly deleted about a week later.

But you don't want to hear me bag the story (discuss the story, watch the story, clean up 'round the sink with the story etc.), so on to the extras. Which are bugger all.

As always an excellent info text, plus robust commentary by Lalla Ward, Janet Ellis, Graham Crowden and Anthony Read. This last goes a long way to explaining how the car crash occurred, if not why. Brief features on Read and Peter Howell's music.

But the main feature here is an epic piece on Blue Peter. This source has been thoroughly mined out in the past, so is livened up by the usual suspects sharing reminisces about the show, from their youth and middle age. Best of all this is only part one, promising a future release where they get to tell us what they thought about Blue Peter when they watched it last week, if that long ago. Possibly in part three we'll get to kick back and sit down with them while they actually watch Blue Peter! Squee! Squee!

This may mean something to someone else, but when Doctor Who Magazine did a special issue devoted to Blue Peter I cancelled my order.

In summary, all the excitement of any vanilla DVD release with the special feature: Picture Disc. And Horns of Nimon!

axelf : MYTHS & LEGENDS Box Set – Part 1 THE TIME MONSTER

Sigh. I just had an entire review go missing. Warning to users; always copy your text onto the clipboard before sending!

Why does John Levene only appear on solo commentary tracks? Does he record his separately (at home?) or do the others simply not like him?

Letts is great; Buddhism, philosophy and grumbling. And he's right Kronos *does* suck as a big white chicken and a bigger white face with furniture. Says he doesn't mind going uncredited as co author, but not why -- could the inference be Kronos itself? I wouldn't mind not being credited either...

I deeply regret never contacting him for an interview. Every DVD I see him on makes me miss him more and more.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS Box Set – Part 2
UNDERWORLD

Underworld rarely appears atop the fan charts in adulation with a bit of a reputation for being ‘cheap and nasty’.  This isn’t an unfair assessment for whilst the first part of Bob Baker’s and Dave Martin’s tale is fairly involving, each successive episode dilutes this early goodwill.  Not that its riff on Jason and the Argonauts is especially terrible – merely disappointing.

A bit of a shame really as the opening part sets events quite well.  With the Doctor, Leela and K9 landing on a ghost ship manned by a crew searching for a lost civilisation, its premise is certainly intriguing.  Letting it down is the poor writing as the narrative then merges various Greek legends together to create a rather confusing blancmange.  The villains purpose seems very vague, with their Oracle’s creation never satisfactorily explained.  Who created it, why keep people as slaves and what exactly are they mining?  These questions and others are left hanging while the messy script loses its way.

Above all else Underworld is also remembered for its CSO work.  Certainly a novel invention back in 1977, today it makes the serial look extremely tacky and only highlights its many plot-holes.  Frankly the production team should never have attempted to create such an ambitious story on a zero budget.  It called for higher production values and the end result is almost unwatchable.

The actors do their best, with Tom Baker and Louise Jameson doing quite well in their roles.  The rest of the cast are largely forgettable, with Baker and Martin’s gift for characterisation strangely missing.  With hindsight maybe it would have been better had it been a 2 parter instead, as every four chapters run under the allotted time with many scenes playing very much like filler material.

Underworld is a bit of a ‘Seinfeld’ story – a tale about nothing.  Neither here nor there in the memory stakes, it’s a very ordinary story from a very ordinary Producer’s first season.

The DVD represents the story in extras – hardly any in them.  The only stand-out is the making of which goes some way in exploring the tribulations in getting it on screen. 

Next – The Horns of Nimon.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS Box Set – Part 3
THE HORNS OF NIMON

Of all of Tom Baker’s seasons in Dr. Who, Season 17 has often been cited as his worst.  Mixed with Graham Williams’ unfocussed producing style, Douglas Adams’ scatter-shot script editing and declining production standards, it has usually featured last amongst fan polls.  It was certainly the season where its star really took over the show with his overt brand of humour turning into pantomime levels of silliness.  Sadly The Horns of Nimon only highlights this view, despite a reasonably coherent script.

Anthony Read’s screenplay cleverly updates the Minotaur mythology in a tale of ‘power corrupting absolutely’.  In Soldeed he has a character using his intellect to rule over others and uses this power to enter a deadly pact with the Nimons.  In turn the evil creatures use their power of brute force to get what they want.  It’s interesting noting how Soldeed aims to create a new world called Skonnos 2 while the Nimons want to destroy the one he currently inhabits.  Making the citadel in the shape of a labyrinthine computer circuit is a smart way of also having the surrounds become the character’s unnatural enemy.

Unfortunately negating much of Read’s interesting concepts are the over the top acting and appalling production values.  From the Nimons ‘heads’ almost falling off, plus their wearing platform shoes, Graham Crowden’s and Tom Baker’s performances, to Baker giving K9 the ‘kiss of life’, all of these ruin what is actually an ok story.  Many should be blamed for this although given they were there throughout the entire seasons, Mr Baker, Williams and Adams should receive the red card.

Having said that it’s a mostly enjoyable tale – albeit one that could have been better had it been taken seriously.  It was interesting watching Crowden strut his stuff – he reminded me very much of Max Von Sydow’s performance as Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon film – which was released only a few months later.  Another connection I make with it is the way in which the guard’s costumes looked a lot like those seen in the movie.  I also noted how Crowden would have made for a wonderful Master as he shows the darkly sinister side the role required quite well.

The Horns of Nimons’ good qualities are its fast paced story and interesting ideas.  But the rest is a shambles and reflects the overall quality of the season as a whole.  In fairness it’s never dull and I certainly prefer this than to the season’s first story ‘Destiny of the Daleks’.  The writing was really on the wall for the show at this point and changes had to be made – which it would with the next story ‘The Leisure Hive’.

The DVD extras are minimal with a Blue Peter feature raising vague interest with Anthony Read’s featurette not long enough.

Overall the Myths and Legends box set is remarkable in that it has 3 stories which general fandom seem to despise with absolute passion.  Maybe unfair in certain cases, they represent a low point at various eras of the show in terms of atrocious production values.

Next: The Creature From the Pit (another infamous Season 17 story)!

axelf : THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA

Behind the Masque was the best feature ever! (no, not being sarcastic, why do you ask?)

Much as I miss Letts, and also found the production crew interviewing each other to be strange, it makes me feel all the more fortunate we still have Hinchcliffe. There were ten producers on the classic series, which spanned from 46 to 20 years ago and the only other surviving one is Derrick Sherwin.

axelf : MYTHS AND LEGENDS Box Set – Part 2 UNDERWORLD

What a clever and interesting theme to release a bunch of unrelated stories under! It must have narrowly beaten out the other potential themes: "Stories we had left over", "Stories without the letter B in the title", or "Fart".

CREATURE FROM THE PIT

Sometimes I think the Graham Williams era was a lost opportunity.  Although some good stories came from his time such as Image of the Fendahl and City of Death, by and large his often careless production skills and poor script editing lessened some potentially intriguing tales.  Take Creature from the Pit for instance.  On paper the political allegory of using psychological and physical enslavement to advance ambition certainly sounds solid with the aforementioned behind the scenes problems damaging a sound story.

You can’t fault the characters – who are well realised.  Myra Frances as Lady Adrasta makes for an excellent villainess with Geoffrey Bayldon also fine as old prophet Organon.  As an aside Bayldon would have made for a great replacement for William Hartnell in The Five Doctors but alas it was not meant to be.  Baker and Ward work very well together and – as this was the first story she worked on – Ward does well in establishing credible chemistry against Baker’s formidable presence.  What’s interesting about the story is how the various alien races use their otherworldly superiority to lord it over each other – as if their alien egos cannot accept that they may not be as powerful as they believe – something articulated well by the cast.

The biggest problem – and the reason why this story has gained infamy – would have to be its realisation.  From the very first moment it is never taken seriously with situations staged as if performing in a pantomime.  Adams’ tendency for silly humour robs any tension from the premise and forces the viewer to dis-believe what they’re seeing rather than being fully involved with the story. 

The special effects team’s effort also seriously undermines proceedings with their rendition of Erato.  The less said about its unseemly appearance the better – although if such a monster was ever shown these days it would surely produce a huge outcry.  Again the humour used in dealing with it destroys any hint of menace it may have had thereby affecting everything else.

Nevertheless the actual story itself isn’t too bad – it’s just unfortunate other aspects of the production ruined any of its noble intent.

The DVD itself is ok – a feature on director Christopher Barry is interesting as is the doco on why Erato was such an unmitigated disaster.

Season 17 hasn’t the best of reputations and after seeing the poor standards in which it sunk with Creature from the Pit it isn’t difficult to see why.

Next: Kamelion Tales

KAMELION TALES - The King's Demons &
Planet of Fire

Of all the bad ideas Producer John Nathan-Turner had, Kamelion would have been one of his worst.  I doubt there’d be many fans around who said it was one of the most memorable companions – hindering rather than helping the Doctor.  Having said that it’s interesting looking back on the 2 stories of this set as it shows what could have been done to make it less of a laughing stock that it became.

The King’s Demons is simply a filler vehicle to introduce it with the tale of The Master interfering in the signing of the Magna Carta one of the less discussed of the Davison era.  Why this is so is perhaps it feels like a less ambitious ideal for The Master to pursue – especially after his previous efforts at taking over/destroying universes, etc.  Why would he be interested in such a small piece of earth history?  It doesn’t make much sense with its 2 part rendering leaving many unanswered questions.  Another thing I noticed was in one scene Turlough is standing by a window for no apparent reason – as if he’s needed to stand there in order to be captured – which he inevitably does. 

Gerald Flood’s performance as King John is unintentionally amusing but again raises questions.  Why is he so accepting of the Doctor and his companions when they first meet?  This was a real problem during the JNT era – almost every character simply accepted things at face value which destroyed any shred of credibility.  The fight scenes are good however with the BBC budget stretched to its limits with some fine production design. 

The DVD is quite interesting with a doco on Kamelion wonderful with its frankness.  Eric Saward appears in his usual snippy manner but is gracious enough to not sleet the entire blame onto JNT.  Peter Davison is always great value and provides some entertaining insight into how he felt about his era.  A doco on the Magna Carta is a bit dull although historians may enjoy it.

Planet of Fire is a totally different kettle of fish and makes very effective use of its Lanzarote location.  Which is remarkable given that writer Peter Grimwade was given the typical ‘JNT shopping list’ of things to include in the script.  He had to introduce Peri, write out Turlough and Kamelion, ‘kill off’ The Master and include a foreign location.  That he did so with great skill shows what a fine writer he was with a fast moving plot maintaining interest.  Everything about it works and increases the mostly good reputation Season 21 had (apart from the appalling Warriors of the Deep and The Twin Dilemma).

I would go so far as to say this plus City of Death were the best stories in having a foreign locale as its centrepiece and made them natural inclusions to events rather than being shoe-horned in just for the sake of it.

Throughout both stories the regular cast do a great job with Anthony Ainley showing why he was so good at being very bad.  The mix of companions worked well and Peri would make a good addition to the series as it went on.  It’s fascinating seeing the moral barometer from which Davison’s Doctor worked – although his lack of action in saving The Master’s life at the end is a curious footnote and one of the few times the Doctor seemingly allowed someone to be killed. 

The inclusion of Peri’s debut story in this set also completes her run – and that of Anthony Ainley’s Master – of tales on DVD. 

Planet of Fire’s DVD extras certainly packs a punch with some good audio commentaries, some insightful docos and a ‘special edition’ version of the story.  The doco on Anthony Ainley is very welcome although painfully short compared to an earlier doco made on Roger Delgado.  As the person who played the Master more than Delgado (Ten appearances to his Eight) surely it would have been better had it been longer?  Especially considering the amount of BBC work he did which could have filled the running time.

Overall Kamelion Tales proves what a wasted opportunity the robot was.  What JNT should have done – if he was brave enough – was to have him change into a different person in each story which could have kept him ‘alive’.  Or at the very least stick to the appearance of one person throughout and only turn into robot form occasionally.    Planet of Fire sort of shows this possibility although unfortunately by then it was too late and it was written out in a blaze of glory – which sort of sums up the JNT era in a nutshell!

Next: The Dominators

THE DOMINATORS

Although not widely regarded as one of his best, Patrick Troughton’s Sixth season got off to a reasonable start with The Dominators.  Sure The Quarks would turn to be a pitiful replacement for The Daleks and some of the effects would be a bit dodgy, but its story holds up fairly well.

Its tale of a pacifist colony being invaded by men expert at brute force effectively tapped into the educational moral centre driving the show at this point.  The story is actually about something which gave it a lot of heart – an aspect that would be lost in the 80’s era stories which would drown in an ‘action run-about rut’.  The Dulcian tribe are interesting in that they refuse to question anything and accept whatever is told.  This in turn allows the Dominators to scheme their way into their world without much effort.  It’s fascinating comparing their attitude to a lot of today’s society which seemingly refuses to research things and follow others like sheep.  In this respect the story has a timelessness many latter ones don’t have.

The acting is of a good standard with Troughton, Hines and Padbury making for a fine team.  You can easily see the keen by-play between them which enables the story to flow naturally.  Ronald Allen – playing the chief villain – is good here and gives a more animated performance than his infamous long running role in Crossroads from which he would make his fame. 

The Quarks are completely unconvincing and are the weak link of an otherwise strong story.  Script Editor Derrick Sherwin’s decision to cut it from 6 to 5 episodes was a wise one and makes for a tighter narrative.  One of the rarer 5 parters – it works due to its length even if the conclusion seems somewhat abrupt.

Generally not a bad story and one that seems unfairly tarnished with some of the more weaker ones later in the season.

The DVD extras are rather poor with only the making of doco of any interest.  Sherwin’s spirited defence of his actions in crafting the story is fascinating and there still seems some bitterness between him and co-writer Mervyn Haisman decades later.  Haisman’s comment on why this story survives and yet most of the other classic Troughton ones do not is amusing if a little unfair. 

The other main feature called ‘Tomorrow’s Times – The Second Doctor’ examines newspaper critic’s opinions on the show during this time.  A cure for insomnia, this doco is made more so by Caroline John’s inclusion – making one wonder why Hines or Padbury weren’t asked to do it as John had nothing to do with the Troughton era – yet another odd 2Entertain decision.

When 2Entertain make great special features they do it well – when they don’t they most certainly drop the ball…..

Next: Revenge of the Cybermen/Silver Nemesis box set

CYBERMEN BOX SET - Revenge of the Cybermen / Silver Nemesis

When utilised well, the Cybermen can be very effective monsters.  Examples of this can easily be seen in their earlier appearances.  Their latter showings in the ‘classic’ series were somewhat lacking with only Earthshock standing well against closer scrutiny.  This box set selects their more mediocre outings and one’s little liked by fandom.

Returning after a near 7 year hiatus – why they never appeared in the Pertwee era remains a mystery – the silvery soldiers finally made an appearance.  Their mission to destroy Voga and the Vogan’s plans to destroy the space beacon was a sound idea on paper.  The actors portraying Kellman and Vorus made an interesting contrast on human/alien villainy with their greed binding them.

In fact the whole story is one of greed with Vorus’ greed for power vs. the Cybermen’s greed for survival making them bitter opponents.  Even the Doctor and his companions aren’t immune as Harry’s initially greedy actions in attempting to obtain gold gives them unwanted attention amongst the warring battle on Voga.

The general story isn’t too bad although it suffers from poor production values and patchy writing.  Whilst it’s certainly the least of Season 12’s stories, it’s still a reasonably entertaining yarn with the Cybermen’s menace still intact.  It’s obvious however much re-writing had to be done in order to bring it to shape, although Gerry Davis’ initial idea of having the beacon be an empty space casino would probably been better.  In fact the story on the whole should have been set on the beacon rather than splitting the action between it and Voga.  It’s the scenes on Voga which don’t really work – something their awful make-up only highlights.  Having said that, the filmed scenes in the caves are very atmospheric even if the story supporting it is not.

Certainly not as bad as its reputation would suggest, I agree it could have been much better.  The DVD is a bit sparse on extras, although the ‘making of’ doco is interesting.  By far the best extra 2Entertain have done for a long time is ‘Cheques Lies and Videotape – a look at the early days of video – a fantastic doco in which Australian fandom gets a special mention!

Silver Nemesis – what can one say about such an appalling story?  Poorly written, badly acted with terrible special effects, was this really what fans wanted as the 25th anniversary story?  Why didn’t JNT reunite some of the Doctors for it and why make such a special story a 3 parter?  Surely the Daleks would have been more appropriate – especially given Remembrance of the Daleks was one of the better stories of that season and a 4 parter.

The story only shows how the production team’s then policy of hiring inexperienced Dr Who writers would unravel in their faces.  Kevin Clarke’s musings of how the Doctor could be God may have been ok had the show been skewered towards a more adult audience, but at this point in its history its inclusion seems lame and badly forced.  If you look at his story closely, nothing makes sense.  How did Lady Peinforte know of the Doctor? How did she know of Nemesis?  How are the Cybermen able to recognise the Doctor?  What were their previous dealings with Peinforte? And why oh why didn’t the Doctor simply destroy Nemesis in the first place if he knew it to be a danger to earth?

None of these questions are satisfactorily answered with a script playing up its silly humour to the extreme.  The Cybermen aren’t given much to do and seem foolish rather than the scary monsters they should be.  The ‘making of’ DVD seems more entertaining than the story – and almost as long!  Speaking of which – why didn’t 2Entertain include the ‘special edition’ of it that was released on video in 1993?  Since they included alternate versions of Planet of Fire, Enlightenment and the Curse of Fenric – why not Silver Nemesis?  A very puzzling over-sight and a mistake.

Silver Nemesis is a terrible story and probably the worst Cybermen story aired.

Next: Time and the Rani – so one of the worst Dr Who stories gets a release before a Pertwee tale – unbelievable!

Cheques, Lies And Videotape was good (saw it yesterday), but I was disappointed there wasn't more on Australia. I heard about the call for the best quality copy of the Inferno ep. 1 Green Man voice over.

I find if difficult to believe anyone can write on Australian fandom without contacting us. DWM reviewed something which purported to be the history of fandom in Australia--must have been great.

TIME AND THE RANI

“Leave the girl it’s the man I want.  Take him to my laboratory.”

So starts the beginning of the end of the classic series of Doctor Who. 

Season 24 – what a shocker it was.  With this plus Paradise Towers, Delta & the Bannermen and Dragonfire – the quality of stories was sub-standard.  We could easily blame producer John Nathan-Turner, new Script Editor Andrew Cartmel or the entire BBC hierarchy for putting them in such a situation.  Sadly all are to blame as this season effectively trashed Doctor Who’s already thin reputation – which had begun to sink under Colin Baker’s short tenure.

To explain Time and the Rani’s plot would take some doing – being as convoluted and over-written as it is.  Pip and Jane Baker’s poor understanding of what made a good Who story work is clearly evident as each sequence is shoe-horned into the next without any reason.  Take the ending for example – when the Rani exits in her Tardis, how does she then become captured by the Tetraps?  If the Doctor supposedly loses his memory after his regeneration how can he know Mel is his companion?  Why would he know who the Rani was if his memory loss was so severe?

All of these questions are never answered and expose the barren waste-land of plot holes.  As for Lakertya’s indigenous population, it’s difficult to care for their fate as they’re so crudely sketched as characters as to quickly depart from viewer’s minds.  Perhaps the only memorable aspects of them are their punk-like hair-dos which seem a little out of date by the programme’s production in 1987.

Much to my amazement whilst watching it again, I can say there were actually some good elements – a shock I know!  Finally the technology caught up with the fantasy with the special effects used not too bad at all.  Whilst the ‘killer bugs’ who torment the Lakertyan’s are pitiful, the rest of the production is well realised with the snazzy opening titles a definite plus.  At least this aspect created a fresh-ness for a show badly needing it.

Another plus is the by-play between Kate O’Mara as the Rani and Sylvester McCoy.  Both provide amusing performances with the arch dialogue rolling off their tongues with panache.  Although O’Mara hams it up for all its worth while wearing huge shoulder pads, her scenes are never less than droll and help to paper over the story’s many cracks.  The less said about Bonnie Langford as companion Mel the better – seriously she was simply appalling from start to finish.

An interesting thread I picked up on was the consistency between this and McCoy’s last full adventure ‘Survival’ in Season 26.  In Time and the Rani his Doctor is battling a fellow renegade time-lord (The Rani) who wants world domination, whilst in Survival he battles another renegade time-lord (The Master) for the same reasons.  This symmetry works well in retrospect making me wonder if the production team had known Survival was to be the final story for some-time and wanted to conclude as McCoy’s era had begun?

Overall Time and the Rani was an awful way to begin the new Doctor’s era.  It must surely be up there with Timelash, The Twin Dilemma and Paradise Towers as amongst the very worst Doctor Who stories made.  It was all very well for the BBC bosses to ask for a ‘fun and lighter’ series but to then schedule it in an adult timeslot of 7.30 on a week night against Coronation Street was a terrible act of televisual vandalism from which it never recovered.

Wouldn’t you know it – the DVD extras for such a poor story are great. The making of doco is eye-opening in that Pip and Jane Baker still believe their story was fantastic whilst JNT speaks from an old interview to defend it to the hilt.  At least Andrew Cartmel didn’t drone on about how ‘it could have been better with more lighting’ – even he says it’s a bit of a dud.  The rest of the package is quite well put together with 3 Easter Eggs available for those enjoying hunting them down – all are slight but interesting.

So finally Time and the Rani has been unleashed and thereby concluding the Sixth Doctor’s era with his regeneration at its start – completing his run on DVD.  Can 2Entertain now please bother to release some Pertwee stories??

Next:  The Seeds of Doom.

ok I posted this on 7/11/08 - exactly 2 years ago...

"Or maybe the 2Entertain staff will hold a seance to bring back JNT?

Seriously, I dread the day when Time and the Rani gets released.  I bet anything it gets released before a classic like The Daemons.

Come on 2Entertain don't let me down!!!"

Guess what?  I was right! 2Entertain didn't let me down either!!

Thanks 2Entertain I knew you could be relied on to highlight my opinion of you....and STILL no release of The Daemons in sight.

For my next prediction I think Paradise Towers will be released before Terror of the Zygons - come on 2Entertain I'm on a roll here!

Interesting observation about the symmetry of Time and the Rani and Survival, but I don't think it was that well planned out. While Survival was broadcast last, the production codes give away the production order -- The Curse of Fenric (7M), Battlefield (7N), Survival (7P) and Ghost Light (7Q). The sad voice over about putting the kettle on was a very late addition.

Recently caught State of Decay; and the butcher interview was as irritating and jarring as you said. Other features were solid, just a bit of an insult to include this particular entertaining and informative extra.

Watching Full Circle and quite pleased with the All Aboard the Starliner extra. Max Samett is an excellent interviewee, and more technical detail is welcome, particularly the cameramen! Nice clips of Peter Grimwade; Myth Makers always seemed to be a bit of a vanity press but they've provided great source material for these DVDs. E-Space - Fact or Fiction is good science and entertainment, and I bet they had trouble convincing all those scientists to appear!

Warrior's Gate is as always, surprising. The guy who used to write a column for DWM said he only saw eps 2 and 4 on broadcast, so difficult! DWM also informed me about the dirty secret that Paul Joyce had been sacked mid production. His career did not recover and looking back on it, the production was simply too ambitious for The Show at the time. His heartfelt address that he made the story for us is sincere. Still, his loss, Graeme Harper's gain.

I've just purchased the Revisitations box set (comprising the 1996 TV Movie, Talons of Weng Chiang and The Caves of Androzani).  Hopefully the re-mixed set lives up to its promise - I'm particularly looking forward to checking out the post-mortem docos on the 1996 Movie - see if anyone actually takes the blame for its failure.

I also purchased Seeds of Doom which I shall check out over the weekend.  One thing that immediately caught my eye whilst perusing the backcover was I noticed listed as participating in the audio commentary was 'Joggs Camfield' - son of the stories' late director Douglas Camfield.

Are we now to expect relatives of deceased production crews comment on future stories?  Maybe Sean Pertwee can comment on his father's remaining tales or David Troughton put in his 2 cents worth.  Or even better maybe Joe the Butcher down the road will chip in with is fond memories of watching the show??

Seriously - 2Entertain can't be that desperate for personnel to do audio commentaries without resorting to relatives???

Never mind that's my rant for the day, on with watching the stories!

Yes you are cynical, eh eh eh.

David Troughton was an ongoing presence in the series himself, so all good. And Michael Troughton wrote a brief biographical piece on his dad for DWM, which was both pleasant and made me hopeful he'd flesh it out to a full book. Like Jessica Carney's Who's There, the authorship of a close relative adds something. Rather than "Joggs" (no prejudice there, Joggs) a great commentator would have been Sheila Dunn, Camfield's wife and a Who actor in her own right. Unfortunately she too is gone.

Which brings me to a sad point. While I try to keep the news up to date, some pages are left with little than a growing list of dead Who makers. We are approaching the 50th anniversary, so how long can we expect people associated with the classic series to survive? Sophie Aldred was born 20 August 1962 and Andrew Smith on 25 July 1962 (I think). Wonder if 2|entertain is stocking up?